Renewing Interest In Annual Events
By D. Fran Morley
The first year of any event, all organizers can hope for is to make it to the second year. After a few good years, everything is set; organizers, participants, sponsors and spectators know what to expect. But what about events that have been occurring annually for 10 to 20 years or longer? How can organizers continue to attract participants, sponsors and spectators for the same event year after year?
SportsEvents talked with event organizers, event management firms, sports commissions, and destination officials about their efforts to enhance long-standing sports events. Not surprisingly, their responses revealed both pros and cons to implementing measures to re-energize existing events.
According to Jon Lundin with the Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau in New York, events that have been around for a long time have some distinct advantages. “People know when to expect it, so they put it on their calendars a year or more in advance,” he said. “For example, the Lake Placid Ironman competition is in its 11th year and the Can-Am Rugby Tournament is 36 years old this year. Locals expect these events during the summer in Lake Placid, and visitors plan trips around them.”
Growing Events & Growing Crowds
In Redding, Calif., the Shasta Kart Klub sought to grow its racing events by making it easier for spectators to get a good view of the go-carts on the track, said club leader Dan Pellizzari. “We recently completed work on a free spectator viewing area, with picnic tables, bleachers and shaded areas, so that those interested in racing may attend at no charge.”
Pellizzari said the new area was well used when the Kart Klub hosted the 2009 Grand Nationals in June, and it’s a boost to the club’s year-round activities as well. “We’re a family-based sport, so having a safe area for racers’ families to view the races just made sense,” he said. “For fans to witness racing and hear the associated sounds from the new vantage point will only help to grow our membership and all our events.”
The 37-year-old Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach, Va., was revitalized seven years ago when new owners expanded it from a regional to national event. Amy Frostick, who runs J&A Racing Inc. with her husband Jerry, introduced the race to a whole new audience. “The founders of the race did a great job with it as a regional event for 30 years. They built it from 59 participants in the first year to around 5,000 participants in 2002, but they were finding it hard to keep up interest,” she said. “When we took over, we thought that March is a great time to invite people from all over the country to Virginia Beach. The weather is usually good, hotels are less expensive, and it’s St. Patrick’s Day. Why not invite runners here for a race?”
When the Frosticks and J&A Racing took over the Virginia Beach race, there was little advertising and no promotional program or color brochure for the race. “We had a huge advertising campaign that the City of Virginia Beach helped with, including placing ads in Runner’s World, e-mail marketing, expanding the website and adding online registration, and promoting our marathon at other races.”
Thanks to all this, the Shamrock Marathon continues to grow. More than 22,000 registered in advance for the 2009 event, up from 18,000 in 2008. “We do all we can to make it fun for the participants,” Frostick said, reeling off a long list of items that participants receive in their race goodie bags, which are now reusable backpacks instead of the plastic bags. Other environmentally friendly additions include providing recycling receptacles and encouraging runners to donate gently worn sneakers to a shoe-collection charity. In 2008, Runner’s World recognized the Shamrock Marathon as an official green race, which brings new notoriety to the event.
Marketing and hard work on behalf of the new organizers were key to growing the race, said Buddy Wheeler, sports marketing coordinator for the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). “When they decided to market it on a national scale, they started going to running expos and other races around the country. They did ads, of course, but they also injected their own enthusiasm into the event with face-to-face meetings with other runners.”
In Dallas, a high-energy volleyball tournament, SpikeFest, is expanding by taking its act on the road, said Mike Kruizinga, president and managing member of K1 International Event Management in Arlington, Texas. “After 19 good years in Dallas, this summer we hit 11 cities in Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida and Arkansas, and we hope to do 25 next year. The thought was that if we’re strong in one market, we could duplicate that in other cities.”
To Move Or Not To Move
Moving an event to a new city or to a different venue in the same city can attract a larger crowd, but moving an event isn’t always a great idea, Kruizinga said. “People come to an event for the whole atmosphere. It’s not just about being in an arena to watch or take part in a tournament; it’s everything around it. Moving to a higher-profile venue can be good, but only if people can still quickly get to restaurants or other entertainment. There can be a lot of down time during tournaments, and if spectators and participants can easily walk to restaurants or back to their hotel, that makes it better for everyone.”
Much goes into selecting a city for a traveling event, said Doug Grassian of ESPN, referring to ESPN Outdoors’ BASS fishing events, which have been going on for more than 40 years. “We’re a membership organization with more than 500,000 members, as well as a multimedia company. Reaching members, fans, readers and viewers in all parts of the country is always our key objective,” he said. “We have to look for top-notch fisheries that can host a large-scale tournament, as well as a destination that can accommodate our infrastructure needs to host a successful tournament and our on-site events.”
For some events, BASS has stayed on the same body of water, but moved to a different city or marina. “Sometimes it’s a case of logistics and sometimes it’s a case of connecting with a new or larger audience,” Grassian said. “All in all, we understand that exposing our event to as wide a variety of audience as possible is very important.”
If You Add It, They Will Come
Adding new activities to an existing event is a great way to increase awareness and build new excitement, said Karen Kuhlman, director of events for the Greater Cincinnati Sports Commission. “The Cincinnati Winter Sports Festival began eight years ago as a regional women’s gymnastics competition, and as that grew, we saw the potential to grow the event by adding other sports, such as cheerleading,dance, men's gymnastics, weightlifting and martial arts. It has evolved into a mini-Olympic festival and a great event for the city of Cincinnati in December, which is traditionally a slow time of year for sporting events.”
Grassian noted that as fishing sports continue to evolve with new technology, new personalities and enhanced media coverage, it’s important to continue incorporating fresh ideas, many of which come from their event sponsors and host communities. “A great example is the 2009 Bassmaster Classic, which recently played out in Shreveport, La. Prior to the Saturday weigh-in, the Zac Brown Band played a free concert in the CenturyTel Center. Another example was our 2008 season-ending tournament in Syracuse, N.Y., where we ended the final day weigh-in with a fireworks show. We are always looking at unique opportunities to entertain fans who attend our weigh-ins.”
Wheeler said adding music or entertainment helps ratchet up the excitement at any type of sporting event. “It encourages athletes to stay at the venue when they’re not actually competing, and it gives family members something else to enjoy. Adding an expo or music, or tying your event in with another in town, such as an arts festival, carries the excitement beyond the tournament or competition,” he said. “It’s important to remember that not everyone who comes is interested in just the sporting event. In Virginia Beach, we have a built-in attraction with our beaches, but making any event more of a destination motivates athletes to bring their whole family along.”
Incorporating High-Tech Elements
Giving players a way to interact with other participants before, during and after the event builds excitement in new ways,” Kruizinga said. “MySpace, Facebook and Yahoo posting boards also add interest for sponsors and let them reach participants in ways not available before. We use the Internet to drive traffic to a retail location of a particular sponsor before the event. It’s always hard to evaluate real return on events, so anything that’s more concrete like this can help.”
Always Keep an Eye on the Bottom Line
According to Wheeler, organizers have to look at any event as a business. “It doesn’t do anyone any good to take a ‘no matter what’ approach and then lose money on the event. I think everyone understands that in this economy.”
But cutting back doesn’t have to have a negative effect on an event, Grassian said. “Fishing has been impacted just like many others, and we determined it was best to revamp our Elite Series schedule. While we reduced the regular season by three tournaments, we added two postseason tournaments. The changes were spurred by the economy, but we feel that the new format provides an even more exciting race for our Angler of the Year championship.”
Despite a down economy, events still have to put on a great face, said Kruizinga. “Don’t take an existing event and do it only halfway—for any reason. It’s got to be at least as good (as the year before), or it will suffer. You can scale back behind the scenes, but what participants and fans see should not diminish.”